Tuesday, January 29, 2013

What Goldilocks Taught Us About Moderation

I'm the dummy in Running for Dummies. I hope that is clear. My blog is all about sharing my learning experiences with you, until one day, I'll get so smart that I will have to change the name of my blog to Running for Geniuses. We canall do long division in our heads on our long runs. OK? Maybe not.

Sometimes it is all so simple, out there clear as day, and it hits me like a ton of bricks, too many wasted years later. Dare I say I am almost a completely different person that I was a year ago when it comes to my health and fitness?

D'uh

Eat. How could I miss something so simple? Oh yeah, it is because it seems like the whole fitness world is telling people to eat 1500 calories a day and work your a$$ off for hours-on-end a day. If you think about it, it doesn't even make sense.

So I sometimes I would eat way too little for my activity level. I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist, but for me, eating under 2000 calories a day when I work out for an hour everyday is not nearly enough. Then I would end up eventually splurging and eating way too much.

It is so simple. Eat enough. Not too little. Not too much. That damn Goldilocks has been saying it for years, "I've been eating too little, I've been eating too much, Ahyes, I'm eating just right."

yum, porridge!

Run. I love to run, so I know more than most the tendency to get obsessed. Run, but not too much, or you risk injury, over-training, and burn out. Not too little, because you need your cardiovascular fitness. Just enough. Whatever 'enough' means for you.

Lift Stuff. I fought it for so many years. I always said I hated lifting weights. I said I was a runner. Turns out once I started lifting weights, I didn't hate it at all. I actually loved it, and you know what? It made me a much better runner! Faster than ever.Go figure. Don't lift too light or you won't see results, don't lift the same for months (or years) on end without progression, and don't hurt yourself by trying to lift too heavy before you are ready. Like Goldilocks would say, lift just right.

12 comments:

Moderation is something I struggle with too! I make sure to space my eating out during the day with smaller, lower calorie snacks in between meals which has helped me to maintain the right amount of calories to compensate for what I burn, AND to help prevent my inner hungry dinosaur from rearing its ugly head!

There are days, and weeks where I still stumble with my food, and those usually come when I forget the meaning of the work moderation :)

When I was seriously training, I tended to overdo the running. Never to the point of injury, and I always ate enough, but it is easy to get into the mindset of more is better (or in the case of food, less is better).

Great analogy! It's hard to follow moderation when you love something so much. I'm the same way with running. I'd be afraid to lift hard on a leg day because I didn't want to be too sore for my run. No longer! Lifting is what makes you strong and faster. Great tips!

I practice all things in my life in moderation (except loving my family .... that is a whole lot of love). Something I feel I have down. I totally agree with you though on the calories - under 2000 is simply not enough for me!